Saturday 30 January 2010

Butter Chicken Recipe (Murgh Makhani)



How to make Butter Chicken/Murgh Makhani

Butter chicken or murgh makhani originates from the Mughal Empire in India and is eaten through out the world today.

There are different variations of butter chicken but the basic principles of cooking butter chicken are marinating the chicken in yogurt and spices, then cooking the chicken in butter and adding the cooked chicken to a smooth aromatic tomato based sauce.

Chefs tasty butter chicken recipe is very aromatic and easy to prepare, there are a lot of ingredients used in this recipe but do not worry, it is simply a matter of marinating the chicken, cooking a sauce then refrigerating both, then after a few hours the procedure of cooking the butter chicken is easy because the two main parts of the recipe have already been done.

Cream can be added to the dish at the end of cooking, Chef adds evaporated milk instead, the option is yours.

This butter chicken recipe will impress family and friends and make them feel like they have eaten in a restaurant.

Simply follow Chefs easy step-by-step instructions and enjoy this delightful and aromatic dish.


Or see Chefs
How to make butter chicken/murgh makhani video recipe





Ingredients for butter chicken (murgh makhani)

For marinade

2-3 Chicken breasts (diced)
1 cup Yogurt
1/4 tsp Ground cardamom
1/4 tsp Garam masala
1 + 1/2 tsp Lemon juice
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 Tbsp Tomato puree
1 tsp Garlic puree
1 large tsp Fresh ginger (grated)

For the butter chicken sauce

1 large Onion (diced)
Oil
3-4 inch Fresh ginger (chopped)
4-5 large Garlic (chopped)
Handful dried methi leaves
Handful dried curry leaves
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
1 tsp Paprika
8-10 Whole green cardamoms (depends on size of pods)
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper/ Chili powder
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Sugar
Sprinkle black pepper
1 + 1/2 cup Sieved tomatoes/ Passata (or push some canned tomatoes through a sieve)

To finish


3 Tbsp Butter
1/4 cup Evaporated milk or Cream


Chefs Note... If using canned tomatoes try to use quality tomatoes that are thick in consistency, if the canned tomatoes are runny a little (1 Tbsp) tomato puree may be added.


Picture of green cardamoms, ground cloves, garam masala, cayenne pepper, paprika.



Picture of chopped fresh garlic and ginger.




Picture of butter melting in the pan.




How to make Butter Chicken / Murgh Makhani




Place all of the marinade ingredients except the chicken into a small bowl and mix.


Place chicken in a separate dish that it will be marinaded in.




Pour the yogurt marinade over the chicken.



Cover all of the chicken pieces in the marinade.



Cover the dish and place into the fridge for a few hours.



Heat up a large frying pan and drizzle in some oil. Add the onions and cook the onions for 5 minutes or until the onions soften.



Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a few more minutes stirring often so that the garlic does not burn.



Add the rest of the ingredients for the sauce, stir well and simmer for a few minutes.



Pour into a blender and pulse into a paste.




Cover and place in the fridge for a few hours.



When you are ready to cook the butter chicken remove the tomato base from the fridge and put through a sieve into a pan.
This removes any little bits of cardamom shells and seeds that did not get blended in the food processor.

Pour the sauce into a small pan and gently heat on the lowest setting for 10-15 minutes stirring often. Do not boil the butter chicken sauce or else the spices will not be as aromatic and the tomatoes will burn, take your time.



In a large wok/pan add the butter on a medium/high heat.



Add the marinated chicken pieces.




Stir well and cook for a 5 minutes.




Pour the warmed up tomato base into the pan with the butter chicken.



Stir well, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
Stir often so that the chicken cooks evenly.



Pour in the evaporated milk or cream, cook for another 2 minutes.




Serve with basmati rice, roti, naan bread.




Enjoy Chefs butter chicken recipe/ murgh makhani recipe.





See more of Chefs tasty Curry Recipes Here

27 comments:

Yasmeen said...

This is a very rich and spicy dish,love the color :D

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Looks very gorgeous and really tempting color.. It looks like we get in restuarant...

Gita Jaishankar said...

This is my favorite...I go for this most of the time when we go out for dinner...looks so delicious :)(

Jeannie said...

That looks so yummilicious! One thing about cooking curry is the tedious work of getting the ingredients to a paste. The actual cooking part is quite easy. The eating part is the easiest:D

Sinful Southern Sweets said...

Looks great!!

Anonymous said...

This is the best butter chicken recipe. I made it last night. Alas there were no leftovers to enjoy further today. Thanks for sharing.

shahana said...

Looks really creamy.Will definetly try ur method soon.

Juliana said...

Wow, this chicken looks absolutely delicious...love the sauce and would love to have with the rice...yummie! Great pictures as well :-)

La Bella Cooks said...

Ah, cardamom...I can almost smell it from here and I LOVE it! This is definitely a dish worth making.

grace said...

the list of ingredients for the butter sauce could easily be intimidating, but it's surely worth it! what a beautiful and flavorful dish--thanks for the step-by-step, jeena!

Hannah said...

Mm, I can't get enough of Indian spices- I would love to dress a rice salad with this sauce!

Chef Fresco said...

Nice recipe! Love your use of spices!

~~louise~~ said...

WOW! That dish is simply incredible. The directions are greatly appreciated. I've got a batch of fresh yogurt cooling in the fridge. I just need the courage to give your recipe a try. Thank you so much for sharing...

Sunitha said...

Looks great. Speechless about your patience to give step by step process

Anne said...

How much does this make? I'm cooking for a group of 20-30 ppl, so I'm wondering how many recipes I'll need.

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Anne,

One pan of butter chicken can feed 4-5 people if you use 3 chicken breasts per pan.

Anonymous said...

Hi there...
In the marinade...is the ground cardamom and garam masala meant to be 1/4 'teaspoon' ??
I have many recipes for Butter Chicken but after watching your video, this is definitely a must-try!
Thanks kindly, Barbara

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Barbara,

Thank you for the great feedback.

Yes for the marinade the cardamom and garam masala is one quarter of a teaspoon.

Enjoy you're tasty butter chicken. :)

Μάγια said...

wow, that was FANTASTIC! i had never dared to tried till today! thank you so much for the detailed description! i couldn't find curry leaves here or garlic paste, so i used a bit of curry and garlic powder instead.

would you mind if i translated the recipe and posted it in a greek cooking forum/website? i would of course credit you and put the link of your blog!

anyway, thanks again! :)

Archana said...

Hi Can you please let me know why you dont add salt for the marinade??? or should i add salt to taste!! looking fwd to hear from you!! as im gonna cook it for my friends tomorrow!!

The recipie looks easy and very tempting indeed!!

Really appreciate ur work to post pic by pic!!

Anonymous said...

Hi jeena thank you so much I made this diSh n even I donnt believe that I made so good n its only because of YOU. And u desribed so good that I made chicken just like u made;-D

Russ said...

We made this tonight as a vegan dish, with tofu instead of chicken, oil instead of butter, and no cream, and it was still delicious. Thank you, Chef Jeena!

bhumi said...

oh my god!!! i made this recipe today and it turned out so awesome...i can say this is the best recipe for butter chicken all over the net!!
thank you and will try some of your other recipes too!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeena, that looks SO mouthwatering! Was just wondering, is it essential to cool the tomato sauce or can I just use it right away, if I have, for example, marinated the chicken overnight?

Melissa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

:)

One warning: If you use a commercial kitchen sieve, the screen may be too fine and may require adding more liquid to loosen up the gravy to pass through, and more time to simmer the gravy afterward to evaporate the water/stock.

(Mine had no elachi shells, meethi clumps, or kari patta stems, just adrak fibers. It was still worth doing as there was about 2 TBSP of indigestible fibers.)

Back on track. Smooth and velvety and tastes fantastic. Can't wait to complete the dish.

Anonymous said...

hi jeena,
tried this recipe and it was really really good. i cant belive i could cook this good. thanks to u and i think this is the best butter chicken recipe i have tasted. i used the same recipe for baby potatoes and they turned out just as tasty as the chicken. thank u jeena.